Campground of Terror
by Ytak
Summary: Agasa and the Detective Boys go on a camp trip only to find that one night of fun becomes a terror filled nightmare.


Written for the **spook_me** livejournal Halloween challenge. Any mistakes (grammatical, spelling, plot holes) are due to my laziness and wanting to get this sucker posted before Halloween because I got a wedding rehersal to attend and won't have time. Feedback is appreciated.

* * *

As far as Conan was concerned, this camping trip beat any of the other camping trips he had been dragged on with the Detective Boys. On the third day of the trip, he could happily say there had been no bodies, no criminals, and no phantom thieves.

All in all, he found it a refreshing change.

The clear skies and the clean mountain air already cleared his mind of some of the clutter created from the recent encounter with syndicate. By the time they left in two days, he fully expected to possess a new angle to tackle _that_ problem.

The hiking, even filled with the young chatter of the Detective Boys, relaxed him. At the rate they explored the area, Conan expected they would know the area as well as Beika.

Conan found himself enjoying, in particular, telling stories around the campfire. Scaring little kids qualified as a guilty (and immature) pleasure but after the innumerable number of 'cases' they had dragged him on, he felt justified in giving them a harmless scare around the campfire.

Besides, he knew some good stories they never heard before.

--

The next morning Genta told Mitsuhiko, "I wasn't scared by Conan-kun's stories at all last night!"

"Hah!" Mitsuhiko laughed, "then why did you grab me and scream when that owl flew overhead?"

Ayumi told Agasa, "It was really funny when they all jumped to the other side of the tent when I walked by to use the toilet."

Conan snickered when Genta and Mitsuhiko voiced their outrage, "That was you?! Then why was the shadow so large, huh? It was a lot bigger that _you_."

"That's is because the moon was nearly full last night and she was not that close to the tent. It cast her shadow quite well." She grinned devilishly, "Tonight the moon will be full...," she trailed off allowing their imaginations to take over.

Conan snickered as the two boys shivered, _Guess I'm not the only one who doesn't mind a giving a little scare._

"I be Conan-kun wasn't afraid!" Ayumi said. "He isn't afraid of _anything_."

Genta and Mitsuhiko looked at each other and grinned. Mitsuhiko said, "I suppose it didn't mean he was afraid when he jumped out of his sleeping bag."

"That's right!" added Genta.

Conan scowled at them, "That's because you guys landed on me when you scooted to the other side. You hit my...," he caught himself, "You kicked me in a sensitive spot."

Genta and Mitsuhiko gave him a 'yeah right' look. "You protest too much!" Mitsuhiko said. "You were scared."

Haibara muttered in Conan's ear, "_That's_ why you limped out of the tent this morning."

"Shut up."

Agasa, who had been listening to the conversation with much amusement, got up to break up what might be an incipient fight. "Hey! We're here to have fun. Why don't you guys go out and collect some more firewood? And then you can explore around a little before breakfast. Why not ask the Tanaka's boy and girl if they want to do a little pre-breakfast exploring?"

"Okay!" cheered Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi. They ran off to collect the wood with Conan and Haibara following behind more sedately.

--

The Detective Boys ran up the trail, ahead of Conan, Haibara and Agasa. Agasa shook his head, "I don't know where they get all that energy."

"Professor, relatively speaking, you do have a lot of energy," Haibara said. "You handle them all the time and you have been doing a much better job sticking to the diet I outlined." She narrowed her eyes at him, "You'd have even more energy if you'd take regular exercise." Agasa laughed nervously.

Conan chuckled. Watching the professor get dressed down by someone who looked like she was seven years old was quite amusing at times. Especially since the professor would not take it from anyone else.

"Hey, guys! Come look at this!" Genta yelled, waving to his friends. "There's an old graveyard! And it has one of those cripe things."

"Crypt," Conan corrected as he caught up to the others and stepped into the graveyard. "And it is a mausoleum. But since it looks like it is built into the hill, it probably is a crypt." The other kids already made tracks into it and were staring up at the crypt.

The whole graveyard was heavily grown over. All the tombstones were covered in moss, hiding the names and dates carved on them. The crypt itself was built at the 'back' of the cemetery and appeared to be built into the hill.

Something about the cemetery bothered him.

"It's odd, isn't it?" said Haibara too quietly for the others to hear. "What's a western type graveyard this old doing here?" She gave him a smirk, "That's what you were thinking, correct?"

"It is odd...," he agreed.

Suddenly, Agasa began to sprint to the kids, "Oi! What are you doing?"

"Don't you want to go in?" asked Genta as he tested the door. "Look! It's open!" he said, throwing his weight on the door. Unexpectedly, it swung open easily, causing the door to crash into the wall and Genta to fall. "Oof!"

"Woah, cool!" Mitsuhiko said, stepping around Genta. He flicked on his wristwatch light and walked up to one of the coffins.

"Why is the name scratched out?" he asked.

Ayumi looked in tentatively and went to another coffin. "This one is scratched out, too," she added.

Agasa helped Genta up, "You all right?"

"Yeah," he grunted and brushed off his knees. He got a look around, "Woah, this is so _cool_." He turned on his light and shined it around the room. "Awww, man, someone scratched it all up."

Haibara stepped closer to look at the marks, "They look like they were made with a sword."

Conan frowned, "They do but that's when they are on flesh. This is _stone._"

The Detective Boys shivered. Genta laughed nervously, "Really funny, Conan-kun. A sword can't cut rock like flesh."

Haibara frowned, "Unless you are a master."

"Okay, okay, enough of that," Agasa said, rounding up the children. "You've looked around a real crypt. I don't think we should disturb them anymore than we have. It is kind of their house."

"Professor!" the kids said, shivering at his choice of words. Conan was amused to note that they did leave rather quickly.

He left the crypt last, closing the door behind him. He spent a moment looking looking an inscription or something to identify it but all he saw were more of those marks that looked remarkably like sword marks. Most were filled in with moss and lichen but Conan noticed a few looked newer.

"Conan-kun, you're going to get left behind!" Ayumi yelled, waving at him.

"Coming!" he said, running to catch up with the group.

He did not notice the door open a crack and a blade tip reflect in the sunlight.

--

Genta flopped down on the log he was using for a chair, "That was a good hike. That really worked up my appetite."

Mitsuhiko gave him a half-lidded look, "Everything gives you an appetite. Just sitting in class gives you one."

"Shut up!" Genta snapped. He grabbed his bag and pulled out a mostly empty bag of tail mix.

The rumbling of an engine caught their attention. Up the unpaved road, came a car carrying four teenagers, who were obviously paired off.

They tumbled out of the car and filled the air with chatter.

"Hey, Conan-kun? What does-" Genta started to ask but Conan cut him off abruptly.

"Yo-we're to young to be hearing _that_." He looked around, "Hey, professor? Talk to them, please?"

Agasa, who had overheard more than enough, marched over to the teens to give them a dressing down. A few minutes later he returned and went back to making lunch. Conan could hear him muttering, "I'm too young to be hearing that sort of thing..."

--

The sun was dropping behind the trees as the Detective Boys and Agasa gathered around their neighbors' campfire for another round of spooky stories. Another group of campers, consisting of the couple of horny teenagers, joined in the story telling. Agasa and the Tanaka's pulled them aside for a few moments to let them know they needed to keep the hormone levels in check while they were around the children, otherwise they would not be welcome.

Conan listened in, smirking to himself. What did they expect? His smirk turned into a predatory grin, "Hey, Haibara? Do you know any good horror stories about horny teenagers being offed?"

She gave him a lopsided grin, "I might know one or two."

"Good. Save them for when they get too touchy. I know a couple of American urban legends that they probably haven't heard."

"You know more scary stories we haven't heard?" Ayumi whispered in his ear, cuasing him to jump. Standing behind him were Genta, Mitsuhiko, and, of course, Ayumi.

"You've been holding out on us!" accused Genta as he grabbed Conan and put him in a headlock.

Conan pried his head from Genta's grasp. "Shhh! I want them to be surprised!" He glowered at Genta, "Besides, these stories wouldn't scare you as much as it will scare them. Some things are scarier to older people than kids."

"Prove it!"

"I will!" Conan said and then felt like smacking his forehead. _I really am acting like a grade schooler!_

--

"...And her boyfriend's head was impaled on the antennae," Conan said with a flourish. He suppressed grin. The Detective Boys shivered with excitement. The two teenage girls held each other and looked at their boyfriends.

"We're going straight home in the morning!" one of them said. "No detours, no stops. And we're sticking to heavily used roads!"

"It's all right, baby," one of the guys said, sliding his arm around his girlfriend, "We'll do it your way." He gave an obviously fake yawn that left the Detective Boys staring at him with a 'you've got to be kidding me' expression. "Time for all of us to go to bed."

Ayumi popped up, "I'm not tired yet. I'm going to go to the big rock to look at the stars."

"We'll come with you!" chimed Genta and Mitsuhiko.

"We'll come, too," said the professor, herding Conan and Haibara in the same direction. Slyly, Haibara called back, "Better listen to the radio for... _special reports_."

A frightened squeal greeted that piece of advice.

Agasa chuckled as they walked away. The teenagers hit their tents and the Tanaka's returned to their trailer. No one noticed the shine of moonlight on silver in the bushes.

--

"Aww, Keiko-chan," said one of the teenage boys, "I'll protect you."

She huffed, "That's not it."

"What is it, then?" he asked, scooting close to her.

She started to undo the buttons on his shirt, "I _thought_ it was just going to be the four of us, no children, no adults, in the commune of nature."

He smiled, "Well, they're all gone right now..." He began to nibble on her ear.

She pulled away, "What was that?"

"What was what?" he asked, looking put out.

"I thought I heard something and saw a shadow..."

He pulled her close, "Then they are just going to have to deal with it."

"Fine." They resumed, all the while, failing to notice that there was, indeed a shadow just outside the tent. It moved closer until it was right next to the tent. A long, thin blade of shadow swung down, cleaving the tent.

--

"See those stars, there?" Conan said, connecting the starts with his finger, "That's the Big Dipper."

"How do you know all these things, Conan-kum?" asked Genta.

Mitsuhiko smacked him upside the head, "He read about them or watch Nova or something. You might want to try it sometime. They do have shows about how food is made."

"REALLY?" Genta said, excitedly. "I'd watch that."

Before Mitsuhiko could say something in reply, they heard a shrill scream from the campground.

Conan was off the rock like a shot, the other Detective Boys followed behind but not with his speed. Agasa followed behind them, running as fast as he could.

They arrived at the campgrounds. One of the teenage couples stood off to the side a a collapsed tent. The boy held the girl tightly, trying to comfort her.

As Conan got closer, he could see that the dark blotches on the tent were blood stains and that the occupants were dead. The sight made him a little queasy. A severed arm lay outside the pile of fabric and bodies. It looked as if the bodies had started to sprout fabric from the open wounds.

He whipped around and yelled at the kids following him, "STOP! Don't come over here."

A moment later, Agasa trotted up to him, panting. He caught sight of the carnage and went from being red faced to pale. "Oh my!" he said and turned to keep the kids away because, despite Conan's remonstrances, they had started to approach.

Conan took a deep breath and pulled the sense of calmness around himself like a cloak. As he pulled it around him, his subconscious was aware of the Tanaka's and their horror. Though the scene was disturbing, he was able to push it aside and to study it.

His experience told him that these murders were committed with a sword, an expertly handled sword. The force behind the swings must have been immense. It looked like they had been cut asunder by single strokes. Unless they knew who had been there, there would have been no chance to avoid the attack.

A flash of movement to his left caught his eye. Turning his head, he had enough time to catch the next set of murders. A slivery blade swung down with perfect slashing form and cleaved the teenage boy into two. His girlfriend screamed in agony for the blade had gone all the way through him and had cut deep into her chest.

The next slash of the sword ended her agony by cleaving her from the base of her neck to below her armpit, allowing them to fall to the ground apart from the rest of her.

The was a moment of horrified silence before everyone else started screaming.

The shadowed killer gave a practiced flick of his blade the sent the blood flying off, returning it to its silverly sheen.

In that moment, everyone scattered. The Tanakas ran into their trailer, locking and barricading the door. Haibara ran off with Ayumi, Genta and Agasa somehow ended up going the same direction, Mitsuhiko headed another way. Conan briefly considered finding something to kick at the murder before the shadowed murder flew at him.

--

The Tanakas huddled together in the trailer. A startled yelp only heightened the fear. Desperately, they tried to call out but the phone had no signal.

The sound of metal on metal sent them into a new spiral of panic. They could just see the sword the maniac wielded being used on the trailer.

The father jumped up and ran to the driver's seat, thinking that he could drive them out of there. The sword-wielding figure jumped on the hood of the camper. The father had time for one terrified scream before the sword was thrust through the glass and into his chest.

Kicking out the glass, the sword-wielder stepped calmly into the small camper. Though they could not see his eyes, the remaining Tanakas knew he was looking at them. One more moment passed before he lunged forward and continued the bloodbath.

Their terrified screams echoed through the woods.

--

From the bush he was in, Conan shivered at those screams. That could have been him. _Should_ have been him. But after that one rush, the sword-wielding person turned his attention to the camper, slicing tires, cutting up the door and, finally, his frontal attack through the windshield. Conan knew he would be seeing that figure rushing him for years to come... if he survived the night. If asked, he would say he had thrown himself to the side, mostly out of the blade and into the bushes.

He held his arm where he had not gotten out of the way of the murderous blade. The wound needed to be bandaged otherwise shock from blood loss might set in. Considering his options, he pulled out a handkerchief and folded it into a square. Then he pulled the string out of his hoodie and used it to tie the handkerchief down into a makeshift bandage.

All sounds from the camper had long ceased. He desperately wanted to know what was going on but knew that the killer would not hesitate to come after him.

Conan jumped as a screech cut through the night. He shifted so he could peer out of his hiding spot. The door to the trailer was opening and out stepped the killer. In the harsh moonlight, the blood covering his clothes appeared nearly black in color. With the same move as before, he flicked his blade. Holding his breath, Conan hoped the killer would leave but to his growing horror, the killer proceeded to each of the cars and slashed their tires.

Then he just stopped.

The silence truly was a deathly one. The coppery smell of blood permeated the air and it got stronger with every passing moment.

Abruptly, the killer turned and began to walk to where he last saw Conan. Conan had to almost physically suppress the urge to pull back and run. If he stayed still, there was a chance that the killer would not see him.

The killer stopped at the edge of the woods. Conan could smell the blood on his clothes. The killer seemed to give a puzzled tilt of his head. There was a distant snap of a branch and the killer's head snapped in that direction. He rolled his neck, popping the vertebra before flowing off in the direction of the sound.

Conan let out the breath he had not know he was holding. He huddled in the bushes wondering what he could do.

--

Haibara pulled Ayumi along the trees, trying to keep around the road. She was scared, scared in a way that was like and, yet, unlike her fear of the members of the syndicate. If she were not used to living in fear, she knew she would not have been able to move when those teenagers were killed.

She hissed when they stepped on a large branch and snapped the rotten wood. Moving quickly, she pulled Ayumi along, back-tracking a little and moving off to the side. Quickly, she tucked herself and Ayumi into partially rotted tree. Under other circumstances, she knew Ayumi would have loved finding this little hiding place, thinking it was a fairy hole but now, it just might save their lives.

She pulled Ayumi close. Clinically, she knew they were both shivering from the shock of what they had seen, emotionally, she just wanted to curl up and wake up from the nightmare.

The occasional crunch of leaves told her that someone was moving along the animal path they had followed. As it moved by, she was able to discern that the person was not a friendly party. The overwhelming stench of blood drifted along in his wake.

The shadowed figured moved along, not noticing his prey tucked in the tree.

Ayumi hicupped and shivered behind the tree, "Is it still out there?"

"Shhh," Haibara said, covering Ayumi's mouth as she pulled her closer to the tree. A muted crunch of leaves alerted her. She could see the moon cast a broken shadow through the trees. In the patches of moonlight, she could see a large shadow move. One part of the shadow seemed supernaturally long and seemed to move with a mind of its own. It seemed to shiver in the hand it held, as if it anticipated the next victim.

"Don't move!" Haibara whispered harshly. She felt Ayumi nod and she eased her hand off. The stood there quietly until the shadow had moved off. They could hear it rustle the leaves gently as it moved off.

"Ai-chan?" Ayumi said, so quietly, Haibara thought she imagined Ayumi whispering for a second. "What do we do?"

Haibara caught herself wondering the same thing. This night was outside of her realm of experience. It was like the very laws of nature had been changed.

So quietly, that her voice would only carry into the ear she spoke into, she told Ayumi, "We'll stay here until sunrise. Then we'll run down the road for help." _If its not too late by then_, she thought

--

Mitsuhiko shivered as he heard the screams of the Tanakas. He could see the killer doing the same thing to the Tanakas that he did to those teenagers. Tears ran down his face at the thought of those nice people dying.

He curled into an even tighter ball. For whatever reason, when he ran, he had found himself back at the rock they had used for stargazing. Mitsuhiko had tucked himself into one of its many cracks and curled up. Every little noise he heard made him curl in tighter.

_Calm down!_ he yelled at himself. _Panicking will only get you killed!_ He swallowed hard and forced himself to take deep breaths. After few minutes, he calmed down enough to uncurl muscles that now hurt from how tightly he had them clenched.

He listened carefully and realized all that he had been hearing were normal nighttime sounds. The crickets were still chirping and he could hear the squeak of a bat as it flew by. These were good sounds.

_I wonder if it would be safe to go back to the campground? No... that murderer might still be around there. We didn't see him during the day... maybe I should stay here until morning?_ Mitsuhiko nodded to himself. That was what he would do, he would stay hidden until morning.

He was about to shift positions so that his legs would not fall asleep when the crickets went silent. In the silence, he could hear the crunch of leaves.

The sound of metal on rock made him flinch. There were eight strikes in all. Each one sounded like it gouged deep into the rock. Then the person left, the crunch of leaves got further and further away. Crickets began to chirp again.

Mitsuhiko found himself shivering and curled into a tight little ball again.

--

"Genta-kun!" Agasa panted, "You need to stop running!"

"But he's after us!" Genta yelled. He made it a few more feet before he tripped on a branch. Agasa scooped him up.

"If we keep running without direction, he will get us. He probably knows the area a lot better than we do. If we get lost, then it won't matter if he doesn't find us," Agasa said, looking around for someplace to hide.

"What's that?" Genta asked, pointing through the trees.

Agasa squinted, "It looks like a light." He put Genta down and began to cautiously make his way towards the light. Stepping out of the trees, he was shocked to see they had arrived at the graveyard they saw earlier in the day. The light came from the crypt's open door. It shined with a deep red color.

"Professor," Genta said, gripping one of the professor's hands, "I want to go home."

Agasa knelt down to look Genta in the eye, "I want you to stay in the trees. See, there's a big bush over there," he said, pointing with one hand. "I'm going to go take a look. I don't know what I might find but I won't worry as much if I know you are tucked away."

"But, but-" Genta stuttered.

"No! You need to stay away from it Genta-kun! If anything happens to me, I want you to wait until morning and then follow the trail down and to the road."

Genta shook his head.

"Promise me!" Agasa said as he grabbed Genta's shoulders and gave him a little shake. "Promise!"

Startled by Agasa's actions, Genta nodded, "Okay." He turned to go hide in the bushes and stopped. He glared at the professor, "You're not allowed to die. We are all going to make it back!" Then he hide in the bushes.

Agasa stared at the spot a moment before heading for the open door. Cautiously, he walked around the tombstones. That was when he noticed that some were much new than the others. They lacked the moss and likens of the rest. Using the full moon, he looked closer at them. They were blank. Looking around, there were eight in all that lacked inscriptions of any kind. Two of the tombstones were smaller, child-sized even.

He froze as the temperature of the air dropped and pale forms began to form all around, each one above a tombstone. His heart dropped when he recognized the Tanakas. Their bodies looked like they were stained with silver blood. The four teenagers he also recognized. They somehow held the parts of the bodies that had been chopped off.

Many voices, yet one, spoke, "_Stop him! In the deepest part of the crypt of his corpse. Take one of th e spikes and pierce it through the heart! None of you will make it out alive if he is not stopped tonight. As the night goes on, he will sense your fear and find you._"

They ghosts began to disappear. But they parted with one final word, "_You can't kill him but he can be stopped. If you don't stop him, he will continue to murder._"

After they disappeared, Agasa let out the breath he had been holding. Resolutely, but still terrified, he approached the crypt and entered.

--

Genta watched with awe and no little fear as the ghosts appeared and talked. Part of him wanted to run out and get a better look at them. They did not seem like bad ghosts, just sad ones. He froze at the sight of the people he had met back at the campground. Seeing the Tanakas and their kids scared him. The guy had just killed a bunch of kids who caused no harm. Silently, he rooted for Agasa.

--

Conan jolted upright, as a stick poked him in his side. _Dammit! I must have passed out_, he thought. _The blood loss will get me before anything else does. _He peered through the bushes, taking a good look at the campground. The was now past the zenith. Conan figured that it was probably a few hours after midnight. _How long was I unconscious for?_ he wondered. A chill swept him, _Did I fall asleep instead of passing out? He could have heard me moving around on the leaves then!_ Conan shivered, despite his sweatshirt. Checking the makeshift bandage, he could see that the bleeding had slowed down considerably. _That is going to hurt to remove later_, he thought absently.

Conan noticed that his mind was beginning to wander. _I need to focus on something._ A smile touched his face. The thought Ran flitted through his mind and he decided to think about her and what he would do with her when he could finally return as Shinichi.

--

The crypt was completely silent. There was no sound of roaches scurrying out of his way. He began to fully appreciate the phrase 'silent as a tomb.'

The sickly red light came from the back of the crypt. Somehow the shadows seemed darker and deeper than they did during the day under the little lights they had than the overall red glow.

Walking as quietly as he could, Agasa approached the back of the crypt. It went deep into the hillside. Coffins laid in nooks all along the wall. Slashes on the walls looked like some sort of ancient script carved deep into the wall. Finally, he reached the source of the glow.

A partially decomposed corpse was propped up against the wall. It was the source of the red glow. Its skin had sloughed off. The smell and sight of it forced Agasa to turn his head and empty the contents of his stomach. Wiping off his mouth, he saw the decorative spikes the ghosts spoke of. They lined the walls as decoration. Why they were not elsewhere in the crypt, Agasa would think about later.

The first spike he grave fell apart in his hands. It had rusted to bits from the water that leaked into the crypt over the years. The next spike was much the same way. Finally, the third seemed solid enough.

He yanked it off, hefted it and approached the corpse. He pulled pack and thrust it forward.

As Agasa pierced the spike through the glowing corpse, an ear shattering howl echoed in the crypt and a pulse of white, bright power erupted from the corpse, knocking Agasa over. It swept outward from the room, the earth and walls were no impediment to the wave.

Genta gasped when it appeared and was knocked clean over.

From their hiding place, Ayumi and Haibara wondered what the bright light was. And Mitsuhiko actually jumped up from his spot to see if he could get a better look.

Conan twitched when it appeared but did not move from his spot.

--

The sun was rising before anyone moved from their spots. Agasa stumbled out of the crypt, looking very dazed but unhurt. Genta tackled him and together they began the trip down the trail and back to the campground.

When they got there, they found that the carnage was as bad as they remembered. Agasa would see a blood trail from the camper and forbade Genta to go over there, instead, making him wait by the car. Conan stumbled out of the bushes and went to meet them. Agasa immediately took over his young friend when he saw the bandage. Though the car was undrivable, he was able to get the first aid kit from it and begin to properly bandage Conan.

Mitsuhiko burst out of some bushes later. "I thought you might have been _him_," he said, hugging Agasa tightly and then doing the same for the other boys, which they only weakly protested.

They all huddled by the car, waiting to see if Ayumi and Haibara would appear while Agasa related what happened at the crypt.

--

Ayumi and Haibara stumbled off of the road up to the campgrounds. They were dirty and cold. As it so happened, the first car that passed them was a patrol car.

The officers were incredulous at their story but called into his station. He tried to get the girls to ride in the car with them but Ayumi and Haibara flatly refused. Another patrol car showed up and took them to the station.

When they got there, the other patrol car had already found the carnage at the campsite. The girls were greatly relieved to learn that Agasa, Conan, Mitsuhiko, and Genta were, more or less, okay. The ambulance that arrived took proper care of Conan's arm and took him off to the hospital, despite his protesting.

Agasa and the boys accompanied a squad car down to the station to give a chronological story of what happened. Ayumi greeted them enthusiastically but became very worried about Conan when she found he was not there. Even Haibara did not seem bothered by the enthusiastic greetings from Genta and Mitsuhiko.

The police were skeptical of the tale when Agasa got to the part about the graveyard and the crypt.

"Graveyard? Crypt?" said one of the questioning detectives. "I've hiked up and down that trail many times and have never seen those there."


End file.
